HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY, IOWA
FROM ITS EARLIEST SETTLEMENT TO l909
BY Samuel Gillespie and James E. Steele
ALSO BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF MANY PROMINENT CITIZENS OF THE COUNTY AS WELL AS ITS ILLUSTRIOUS DEAD
HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
INTRODUCTION.
Picture of J.E. Steele
Sixty years ago all that part of the great and beautiful state of Iowa of which the county of Clay is a part was practically terra incognito, a vast wilderness, given over by the Almighty to wild beasts, birds of the air and their masters, the Indians, who roamed the plains and forests at will, claiming and securing an existence from the bounteous hand of nature. Here the deer, buffalo and other fur-bearing animals found a habitat, and the many streams gave generously of the palatable fish. The red man had no care for the morrow. No thought came to him that his possessions would ever be disturbed by the paleface. So he continued on in his dreams. The hunt was his daily avocation, broken in upon at intervals by a set-to with a hostile tribe of aborigines that was alwavs cruel and bloody in its results and added spoils to the victor and captives for torture. He knew not of the future, and cared less. But the time was coming ‐ was upon him &dash when he was called upon to make way for a stronger and a progressive race of men; when the fair land that was his birthright and his hunting grounds, resplendent with the gorgeous flower and emerald sod, must yield to the husbandman. The time had come for the buffalo, deer and elk to seek pastures new, that the alluvial soil might be turned to the sun and fed with grain, to yield in their seasons the richest of harvests.
It is hard for the present generation to realize the rapid pace of civilization on the western continent in the past one hundred years; and when one confines his attention to the advancement of the state of Iowa in the past sixty years, his amazement is all the more intense. Evidences of progress are on every hand as one wends one's way across the beautiful state. Manufacturing plants are springing up hither and yon; magnificent edifices for religious Worship point their spires heavenward; schoolhouses, colleges and other places of learning and instruction make the state stand out prominently among her sisters of this great republic. Milages are growing into towns, towns are taking on the dignity of a city gov- ernment, until today Iowa is noted throughout the Union for the number, beauty and thrift of her cities and towns.
The commonwealth is cobwebbed with her telegraph, telephone and railroad lines, and all these things above mentioned have been made possible by the thrift. determination' and high character of the people who claim citizenship within her borders.
THE INDIAN AND HIS FATE.
It is conceded by historians, who have given the subject deep thought and careful research, that this country was inhabited by a race of human beings distinct from the red man. But that is beyond the province of this work. The men and women who opened up the state of Iowa and the county of Clay to civilization had only the red man to dispute their coming and obstruct their progress; and in that regard something should be recorded in these pages.
So far as the writer can ascertain, the Indians were the first inhabitants of Iowa. For more than one hundred years after Marquette and Joliet had trod the virgin soil of Iowa and admired its fertile plains not a single settlement had been made or attempted; nor even a trading post established. The whole covmtry remained in the undisputed possession of the native tribes. These tribes fought among themselves and against each other for supremacy and the choicest hunting grounds became the reward for the strongest and most valiant of them.
When Marquette visited this country, in 1673, the Illini were a very powerful people and occupied a large portion of the state. But when the country was again visited by the whites not a remnant of that once powerful tribe remained on the west side of the Mississippi, and Iowa was principally in the possession of the Sacs and Foxes, a warlike tribe which, originally two distinct nations residing in New York and on the waters of the St. Lawrence, had gradually fought their way westward and united, probably, after the Foxes had been driven out of the Fox river country in 1846 and crossed the Mississippi. The death of Pontiac, a famous Sac chieftain, was made the pretext for war against the Illini, and a fierce and bloody struggle ensued, which continued until the Illini were nearly destroyed, and their possessions went into the hands of their victorious foes. The Iowas also occupied a portion of the state for a time, in common with the Sacs, but they, too, were nearly destroyed by the Sacs and Foxes and, in the "Beautiful Land" these natives met their equally warlike and bloodthirsty enemies, the Northern Sioux, with whom they maintained a constant warfare for the possession of the country for a great many years.
In 1803, when, under the administration of Thomas Jefiferson, then president of the United States, Louisiana was purchased from Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of France, the Sacs, Foxes and Iowas possessed the entire state of Iowa and the two former tribes also occupied most of Illinois. The Sacs had four principal villages, where most of them resided. Their largest and most important town, from which emanated most of the obstacles encountered by the government in the extinguishment of Indian titles to land in this region, was on Rock river, near Rock Island; another was on the east bank of the Mississippi, near the mouth of Henderson river; the third was at the head of the Des Moines rapids, near the present site of Montrose; and the fourth was near the mouth of the Upper Iowa. The Foxes had three principal villages. One was on the west side of the Mississippi, six miles above the rapids of Rock river; another was about twelve miles from the river, in the rear of the Dubuque lead mines; and the third was on Turkey river.
The Iowas, at one time identified with the Sacs of Rock river, had withdrawn from them and become a separate tribe. Their principal village w^as on the Des Moines river, in Van Buren county, on the site where lowaville now stands.
Here the last great battle between the Sacs and Foxes and lowas was fought, in which Black Hawk, then a young man, commanded one division of the attacking forces. The following account of the battle has been given:
"Contrary to long established custom of Indian attack, this battle was commenced in the daytime, the attending circumstances justifying this departure from the well-settled usages of Indian warfare. The battlefield was a level river bottom, about four miles in length and two miles wide near the middle, narrowing to a point at either end. The main area of this bottom rises perhaps twenty feet above the river, leaving a narrow strip of low bottom along the shore, covered with trees that belted the prairie on the river side with a thick forest, and the immediate bank of the river was fringed with a dense growth of willows. Near the lower end of this prairie, near the river bank, was situated the Iowa village. About two miles above it and near the middle of the prairie is a mound, covered at the time with a small clump of trees and underbrush growing on its summit. In the rear of this little elevation, or mound, lay a belt of wet prairie, covered at that time with a dense growth of rank, coarse grass. Bordering this wet prairie on the north the country rises abruptly into elevated broken river bluffs, covered with a heavy forest for miles in extent, and in places thickly clustered with undergrowth, affording convenient shelter for the stealthy approach of an enemy.
"Through this forest the Sac and Fox war party made their way in the night, and secreted themselves in the tall grass spoken of above, intending to remain in ambush during the day and make observations as this near proximity to their intended victims might afford, to aid them in their contemplated attack on the town during the following night. From this situation their spies could take a full survey of the village and watch every movement of the inhabitants, by which means they were soon convinced that the lowas had no suspicion of their presence.
"At the foot of the mound above mentioned the Iowas had their race course, where they diverted themselves with the excitement of horse racing, and schooled their young warriors in cavalry evolutions. In these exercises mock battles were fought, and the Indian tactics of attack and defense carefully inculcated, by which means a skill in horsemanship was acquired that is rarely excelled. Unfortunately for them, this day was selected for their equestrian sports, and wholly unconscious of the proximity of their foes, the warriors repaired to the race ground, leaving most of their arms in the village, and their old men, women and children unprotected.
"Pash-a-popo, who was chief in command of the Sacs and Foxes, perceived at once this state of things afforded opportunity for a complete surprise of his now doomed victims, and ordered Black Hawk to file off with his young warriors thrcugh the tall grass and gain the cover of the timber along the river bank, and with the utmost speed reach the village and commence the battle, while he remained with his division in the ambush to make a simultaneous attack on the unarmed men whose attention was engrossed with the excitement of the races. This plan was skillfully laid and dexterously executed. Black Hawk, with his forces, reached the village undiscovered, and made a furious onslaught upon the defenseless inhabitants by firing one general volley into their midst and completing the slaughter with the tomahawk and scalping knife, aided by the devour-
ing flames with which they enveloped the village as soon as the fire-brand could be spread from lodge to lodge.
"On the instant of the report of firearms at the village, the forces under Pash-a-popo leaped from their couchant position in the grass, and sprang, tiger- like, upon the unarmed Iowas in the midst of their racing sports. The first impulse of the latter naturally led them to make the utmost speed towards their arms in the village, and protect, if possible, their wives and children from the attack of their merciless assailants. The distance from the place of attack on the prairie was two miles, and a great number fell in their flight by the bullets and tomahawks of their enemies, who pressed them closely with a running fire the whole way, and the survivors only reached their town in time to witness the horrors of its destruction. Their whole village was in flames and the dearest objects of their lives lay in slaughtered heaps amidst the devouring element, and the agonizing groans of the dying, mingled with the hideously exulting shouts of the enemy, filled their hearts with maddening despair. Their wives and children who had been spared the general massacre were prisoners, and their weapons were in the hands of the victorious savages; all that could now be done was to draw off their shattered and defenseless forces and save as many lives as possible by a retreat across the Des Moines river, which they effected in the best possible manner, and took a position among the Soap creek hills."
The Sioux located their hunting grounds north of the Sacs and Foxes. They were a fierce and warlike nation, and often disputed possession in savage and fiendish warfare. The possessions of these tribes were mostly located in Minnesota, but extended also over a portion of northern and western Iowa, to the Missouri river. Their descent from the north upon the hunting grounds of Iowa frequently brought them into collision with the Sacs and Foxes, and after many a sangine conflict a boundary line was established between them by the government of the United States, in a treaty held at Prairie du Chien in 1825. Instead of settling the difficulties, this caused them to quarrel all the more, in consequence of alleged trespasses upon each other's side of the line. So bitter and unrelenting became these contests that in 1830 the government purchased of the respective tribes of the Sacs and Foxes and the Sioux a strip of land twenty miles wide on both sides of the line, thus throwing them forty miks apart by creating a "neutral ground," and commanded them to cease their hostilities. They were, however, allowed to fish on the ground unmolested, provided they did not interfere with each other on United States territory.
Soon after the acquisition of Louisiana the United States government adopted measures for the exploration of the new territory, having in view the conciliation of the numerous tribes of Indians by whom its was possessed and also the selection of proper sites for the establishment of military posts and trading stations. The Army of the West, General Wilkinson commanding, had its headquarters at St. Louis. From this post Captains Lewis and Clarke, with a sufficient force, where detailed to explore the unknown sources of the Missouri, and Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike to ascend to the headwaters of the Mississippi. Lieutenant Pike, with one sergeant, two corporals and seventeen privates, left the military camp near St. Louis in a keel boat, with four months' rations, August 9, 1805. On the 20th of the same month the expedition arrived within the present
limits of the state of Iowa, at the foot of the Des Moines rapids, where Pike met William Ewing, who had just been appointed Indian agent at the point; a French interpreter, four chiefs, fifteen Sac and Fox warriors. At the head of the rapids, where Montrose is now situated, Pike held a council with the Indians, in which he addressed them substantially as follows:
"Your great father, the president of the United States, wishes to be more acquainted with the situation and wants of the different nations of red people in our newly acquired territory of Louisiana, and has ordered the general to send a number of his warriors in different directions to take them by the hand and make such inquiries as might afford the satisfaction required."
At the close of the council he presented the red men with some knives, tobacco and whisky. On the 23d of August he arrived at what is supposed, from his description, to be the site of the present city of Burlington, which he selected as the location for a military post. He describes the place as "being on a hill about forty miles above the River de Moyne rapids, on the west side of the river, in latitude forty degrees twenty-one minutes north. The channel of the river runs on that shore. The hill in front is about sixty feet perpendicular, and nearly level at the top. About four hundred yards in the rear is a small prairie, fit for gardening, and immediately under the hill is a limestone spring, sufficient for the consumption of a whole regiment." In addition to this description, which corresponds to Burlington, the spot is laid down on his map at a bend in the river a short distance below the mouth of the Henderson, which pours its water into the Mississippi from Illinois. The fort was built at Fort Madison, but from the distance, latitude, description and map furnished by Pike, it could not have been the place selected by him, while all the circumstances corroborate the opinion that the spot he selected was the place where Burlington is now located, called by the early voyagers on the Mississippi "Flint Hills." In company with one of his men, Pike went on shore on a hunting expedition, and, following a stream which they supposed to be a part of the Mississippi, they were led away from their course. Owing to the intense heat and tall grass, his two favorite dogs, which he had taken with him, became exhausted and he left them on the prairie, supposing they would follow him as soon as they should get rested, and went on to overtake his boat. After reaching the river he waited for some time for his canine friends, but they did not come, and as he deemed it inexpedient to detain the boat longer, two of his men volunteered to go in pursuit of them. He then continued on his way up the river, expecting the men would soon overtake him. They lost their way, however, and for six days were without food, except a few morsels gathered from the not accidentally‐met trader from St. Louis, and might have perished had they not induced two Indians to take them up the river, overtaking the boat at Dubuque. At the latter place Pike was cordially received by Julian Dubuque, a Frenchman, who held a mining claim under a grant from Spain. He had an old field piece, and fired a salute in honor of the advent of the first American who had visited that part of the territory. He was not, however, disposed to publish the wealth of his mines, and the young and evidently inquisitive officer obtained but little information in that regard.
Upon leaving this place Pike pursued his way up the river, but as he passed beyond the limits of the present state of Iowa, a detailed history of his explora-
tions does not properly belong in this volume. It is sufficient to say that on the site of Fort Snelling, Minnesota, he held a council with the Sioux, September 23d, and obtained from them a grant of one hundred thousand acres of land.
Before the territory of Iowa could be opened to settlement by the whites it was first necessary that the Indian title should be extinguished and the aborigines removed. The territory had been purchased by the United States, but was still occupied by the Indians, who claimed title to the soil by right of possession. In order to accomplish this purpose, large sums of money were expended, warring tribes had to be appeased by treaty stipulations and oppression by the whites discouraged.
BLACK HAWK.
When the United States assumed control of the country, by reason of iti purchase from France, nearly the whole state was in possession of the Sacs and Foxes, a powerful and warlike nation, who were not disposed to submit without a struggle to what they regarded the encroachment on their rights by the pale- faces. Among the most noted chiefs, and one whose restlessness and hatred of the whites occasioned more trouble to the government than any other of his tribe, was Black Hawk, who was born at the Sac village on Rock river in 1767. He was simply the chief of his own band of Sac warriors, but by his energy and ambition he became the leading spirit of the united nations of the Sacs and Foxes and one of the prominent figures in the history of the country from 1804 until his death. In early manhood he attained distinction as a fighting chief, having led campaigns against the Osages and other neighboring tribes. About the beginning of the nineteenth century he began to appear prominent in the affairs of Mississippi. His life was a marvel. He is said by some to have been the victim of a narrow prejudice and bitter ill-will against the Americans.
November 3, 1804, a treaty was concluded between William Henry Harrison, then governor of Indian Territory, on behalf of the United States, and five chiefs of the Sac and Fox nation, by which the latter, m consideration of two thousand two hundred and thirty-four dollars' worth of goods then delivered and a yearly annuity of one thousand dollars to be paid in goods at just cost, ceded to the United States all that land on the east side of the Mississippi extending from a point opposite the Jefferson, in Missouri, to the Wisconsin river, embracing an area of fifty-one million acres. To this treaty Black Hawk always objected and always refused to consider it binding upon his people. He asserted that the chiefs and braves who made it had no authority to relinquish the title of the nation to any of the lands they held or occupied and, moreover, that they had been sent to St. Louis on quite a different errand, namely, to get one of their people released, who had been imprisoned at St. Louis for killing a white man.
In 1805 Lieutenant Pike came up the river for the purpose of holding friendly council with the Indians and selecting sites for forts within the territory recently acquired from France by the United States. Lieutenant Pike seems to have been the first American whom Black Hawk had met or had a personal interview with, and was very much impressed in his favor. Pike gave a very interesting account of his visit to the noted chief.
Fort Edwards was erected soon after Pike's expedition, at what is now
Warsaw, Illinois, also Fort Madison, on the site of the present town of that name, the latter being the first fort erected in Iowa. These movements occasioned great uneasiness among the Indians. When work was commenced on Fort Edwards a delegation from the nation, headed by their chiefs, went down to see what the Americans were doing, and had an interview with the commander, after which they returned home and were apparently satisfied. In like manner, when Fort Madison was being erected, they sent down another delegation from a council of the nation held at Rock river. According to Black Hawk's account the American chief told them he was building a house for a trader, who was coming to sell them goods cheap, and that the soldiers were coming to keep him company ‐ a statement which Black Hawk says they distrusted at the time, believing that the fort was an encroachment upon their rights, and designed to aid in getting their lands away from them. It is claimed by good authority that the building of Fort Madison was a violation of the treaty of 1804. By the eleventh article of that treaty the United States had the right to build a fort near the mouth of the Wisconsin river, and by article six hey had bound hemselves (sic) "that if any citizen of the United States, or any other white person, should form a settlement upon their lands, such an intruder should forthwith be removed." Probably the authorities of the United States did not regard the establishment of military posts as coming properly within the meaning of the term "settlement," as used in the treaty. At all events, they erected Fort Madison within the territory reserved for the Indians, who became very indignant. Very soon after the fort was built a party led by Black Hawk attempted its destruction. They sent spies to watch the movements of the garrison, who ascertained that the soldiers were in the habit of marching out of the fort every morning and evening for parade, and the plan of the party was to conceal themselves near the fort and attack and surprise them when they were outside. On the morning of the proposed day of the attack five soldiers came out and were fired upon by the Indians, two of them being killed. The Indians were too hasty in their movements, for the parade had not commenced. However, they kept up the siege for several days, attempting the old Fox strategy of setting fire to the fort with blazing arrows, but finding their efforts unavailing, they desisted and returned to their wigwams on Rock river. In 1812, when war was declared between this country and Great Britain, Black Hawk and his band allied themselves with the British, partly because he was dazzled by their specious promises, but more probably because they were deceived by the Americans. Black Hawk himself declared they were forced into the war by having been deceived. He narrates the circumstance as follows: "Several of the head men and chiefs of the Sacs and Foxes were called upon to go to Washington to see the great father. On their return they related what had been said and done. They said the great father wished them, in the event of war taking place with England, not to interfere on either side, but to remain neutral. He did not want our help, but wished us to hunt and support our families and live in peace. He said that British traders would not be permitted to come on the Mississippi to furnish us with goods, but that we should be supplied by an American trader. Our chiefs then told him that the British traders always gave them credit in the fall for guns, powder and goods, to enable us to hunt and clothe our families. He repeated
that the traders of Fort Madison would have plenty of goods; that we should go there in the fall and he should supply us on credit, as the British traders had done." Black Hawk seems to have accepted the proposition, and he and his people were very much pleased. Acting in good faith, they fitted out their winter's hunt, and went to Fort Madison in high spirits to receive from the trader their outfit of supplies; but after waiting some times they were told by the trader that he would not trust them. In vain they pleaded the promise of the great father at Washington; the trader was inexorable. Disappointed and crestfallen, the Indians returned sadly to their own village. Says Black Hawk: "Few of us slept that night. All was gloom and discontent. In the morning a canoe was seen ascending the river. It soon arrived, bearing an express, who brought intelligence that a British trader had landed at Rock Island with two boats filled with goods, and requested us to come up immediately, because he had good news for us and a variety of presents. The express presented us with pipes, tobacco and wampum. The news ran through our camp like fire on a prairie. Our lodges were soon taken down, and all started for Rock Island. Here ended all our hopes of remaining at peace, having been forced into the war by being deceived." He joined the British, who flattered him, and styled him "General Black Hawk," decked him with medals, excited his jealousy against the Americans and armed his band; but he met with defeat and disappointment, and soon abandoned the service and returned home.
There was a portion of the Sacs and Foxes whom Black Hawk, with all his skill and cunning, could not lead into hostilities against the United States. With Keokuk, "the Watchful Fox," at their head, they were disposed to abide by the treaty of 1804, and to cultivate friendly relations with the American people. So when Black Hawk and his band joined the fortunes of Great Britain, the rest of the nation remained neutral and. for protection, organized, with Keokuk for their chief. Thus the nation was divided into the "war party" and "peace party." Keokuk became one of the nation's great chiefs. In person he was tall and of portly bearing. He has been described as an orator, entitled to rank with the most gifted of his race, and through the eloquence of his tongue he prevailed upon a large body of his people to remain friendly to the Americans. As has been said, the treaty of 1804 between the United States and the Sac and Fox nations was never acknowledged by Black Hawk, and in 1831 he established himself, with a chosen band of warriors, upon the disputed terri- tory, ordering the whites to leave the country at once. The settlers complaining. Governor Reynolds, of Illinois, despatched General Gaines, with a company of regulars and one thousand five hundred volunteers, to the scene of action. Taking the Indians by surprise, the troops burnt their village and forced them to conclude a treaty, by which they ceded all their lands east of the Mississippi and agreed to remain on the west side of the river.
Necessity forced the proud spirit of Black Hawk into submission, which made him more than ever determined to be avenged upon his enemies. Having rallied around him the warlike braves of the Sac and Fox nations, he recrossed the Mississippi in the spring of 1832. Upon hearing of the invasion, Governor Reynolds hastily gathered a body of one thousand eight hundred volunteers, placing them under Brigadier-General Samuel Whiteside. The army marched
to the Mississippi and, having reduced to ashes the village known as "Prophets' Town," proceeded several miles up the Rock river, to Dixon, to join the regular forces under General Atkinson. They formed at Dixon two companies of volunteers, who, sighing for glory, were despatched to reconnoiter the enemy. They advanced, under command of General Stillman, to a creek, afterwards called "Stillman's Run," and, while encamping there, saw a party of mounted Indians at a distance of a mile. Several of Stillman's men mounted their horses and charged the Indians, killing three of them; but, attacked by the main body under Black Hawk, they were routed, and by their precipitate flight spread such a panic throughout the camp that the whole company ran off to Dixon as fast as their legs could carry them. On their arrival it was found that eleven had been killed. For a long time afterward Major Stillman and his men were subjects of ridicule and merriment, which was as undeserving as their expedition was disastrous. Stillman's defeat spread consternation throughout the state and nation. The number of Indians was greatly exaggerated and the name of Black Hawk carried with it associations of great military talent, cunning and cruelty. He was ever active and restless and was continually causing trouble.
After Black Hawk and his warriors had committed several depredations and added more scalp-locks to their belts, that restless chief and his savage partisans were located on Rock river, where he was in camp. On July 19th General Henry being in command, ordered his troops to march. After having gone about fifty miles they were overtaken by a terrible thunderstorm, which lasted all night. Nothing cooled in their ardor and zeal, they marched fifty miles the next day, encamping near the place where the Indians encamped the night before. Hurrying along as fast as they could, the infantry keeping up an equal pace with the mounted men, the troops on the morning of the 21st crossed the river connecting two of the four lakes, by which the Indians had been endeavoring to escape. They found on their way the ground strewn with kettles and articles of baggage, which in the haste of retreat the Indians were obliged to abandon. The troops, imbued with new ardor, advanced so rapidly that at noon they fell in with the rear guards of the enemy. Those who closely pursued them were saluted by a sudden fire of musketry from a body of Indians who had concealed themselves in the high grass of the prairie. A most desperate charge was made on the four, who, unable to resist, retreated obliquely in order to outflank the volunteers on the right; but the latter charged the Indians in their ambush and expelled them from the thickets a the point of the bayonet and dispersed them. Night set in and the battle ended, having cost the Indians sixty-eight of their bravest men, while the loss of the Illinoisans was but one killed and eight wounded. Soon after this battle Generals Atkinson and Henry joined forces and pursued the Indians. General Henry struck the trail, left his horses behind, formed an advance guard of eight men and marched forward upon the trail. When these eight men came in sight of the river, they were suddenly fired upon and five of them killed, the remaining three maintaining their ground until General Henry came up. Then the Indians, charged upon with the bayonet, fell back upon their main force. The battle now became general; the Indians fought with a desperate vigor, but were furiously assailed by the volunteers with their bayonets, cutting many of the Indians to pieces and driving the
rest of them into the river. Those who escaped from being drowned found refuge on an island. On hearing of the frequent discharge of musketry, General Atkinson abandoned the pursuit of the twenty Indians under Black Hawk himself and hurried to the scene of action, where he arrived too late to take part in the battle. He immediately forded the river with his troops, the water reaching up to their necks, and landed on the island ‐ where the Indians had secreted themselves. The soldiers rushed upon the Indians, killed several of them, took the others prisoners and chased the rest into the river, where they were either drowned or shot before reaching the opposite shore. Thus ended the battle, the Indians losing three hundred, besides fifty prisoners; the whites but seventeen killed and twelve wounded.
Black Hawk, with his twenty braves, retreated up the Wisconsin river. The Winnebagoes, desirous of securing the friendship of the whites, went in pursuit and captured and delivered them to General Street, the United States Indian agent. Among the prisoners were the son of Black Hawk and the prophet of the tribe. These, with Black Hawk, were taken to Washington, District of Columbia, and soon consigned as prisoners to Fortress Monroe. At the interview Black Hawk had with the president he closed his speech delivered on the occasion in the following words: "We did not expect to conquer the whites. They have too many houses, too many men. I took up the hatchet, for my part, to revenge injuries which my people could no longer endure. Had I borne them longer without striking my people would have said, 'Black Hawk is a woman; he is too old to be a chief; he is no Sac' These reflections caused me to raise the war whoop. I say no more. It is known to you. Keokuk once was here; you took him by the hand, and when he wished to return to his home you were willing. Black Hawk expects, like Keokuk, he shall be permitted to return, too."
By order of the president, Black Hawk and his companions, who were in con- finement at Fortress Monroe, were set free on the 4th day of June, 1833. After their release from prison they were conducted, in charge of Major Garland, through some of the principal cities that they might witness the power of the United States and learn their own inability to cope with them in war. Great multitudes flocked to see them wherever they were taken, and the attention paid them rendered their progress through the country a truimphal procession, instead of prisoners transported by an officer. At Rock Island the prisoners were given their liberty amid great and impressive ceremony. In 1838 Black Hawk built him a dwelling near Des Moines, this state, and furnished it after the manner of the whites and engaged in agricultural pursuits, together with hunting and fishing. Here, with his wife, to whom he was greatly attached, he passed the few remaining days of his life. To his credit, it may be said, that Black Hawk remained true to his wife and served her with a devotion uncommon among Indians, living with her upwards of forty years.
At all times when Black Hawk visited the whites he was received with marked attention. He was an honored guest at the old settlers' reunion in Lee county, Illinois, and received marked tokens of esteem. In September, 1838, while on his way to Rock Island to receive his annuity from the government, he contracted a severe cold, which resulted in an intense attack of bilious fever and terminated his life in October. After his death he was dressed in the uniform pre-
Picture of CLAY COUNTY COURTHOUSE
sented to him by the president while in Washington. He was buried in a grave
six feet in depth, situated upon a beautiful eminence. The body was placed in the
middle of the grave in a sitting position upon a seat constructed for the occasion.
On his left side the cane given him by Henry Clay was placed upright, with his
hand resting upon it. His remains were afterwards stolen and carried away, but
they were recovered by the governor of Iowa and placed in the museum at
Burlington of the Historical Society, where they were finally destroyed by fire.
The treaty was ratified February 13, 1833, and took effect on the ist of June
following, when the Indians quietly removed from the ceded territory and this
fertile and beautiful region was opened to white settlers.
By the terms of the treaty out of the "Black Hawk Purchase" four hundred
square miles of land was reserved for the Sacs and Foxes, situated on the Iowa
river, and including within its limits Keokuk village, on the right bank of that river.
This tract was known as Keokuk's reserve, and was occupied by the Indians until
1836, whereby a treaty made in September between them and Governor
Dodge, of Wisconsin territory, it was ceded to the United States. The council
was held on the banks of the Mississippi above Davenport, and was the largest
assemblage of the kind ever held by the Sacs and Foxes to treat for the sale of
land. About one thousand of their braves and chiefs were present, Keokuk being
the leading spirit of the occasion and their principal speaker.
By the terms of this treaty the Sacs and Foxes were removed to another
reservation on the Des Moines river, where an agency was established at what is
now the town of Agency, in Wapello county. The government also gave out of
the "Black Hawk Purchase" to Antoine LeClaire, interpreter, in fee simple, one
section of land opposite Rock Island and another at the head of the first rapids
above the island, on the Iowa side. This was the first land title granted by the
United States to an individual in Iowa.
General Joseph M. Street established an agency among the Sacs and Foxes
very soon after the removal of the latter to their new reservation. He was transferred
from the agency of the Winnebagoes for this purpose. A farm was
selected, upon which the necessary buildings were erected, including a comfortable
farm-house for the agent and his family, at the expense of the Indian fund. A
salaried agent was employed to superintend the farm and dispose of the crops.
Two mills were erected ‐ one on Soap creek and the other on Sugar creek. The
latter was soon swept away by a flood, but the former did good service for many
years.
Connected with the agency were Joseph Smart and John Goodell, interpreters.
The latter was interpreter for Hard Fishes' band.
Three of the Indian chiefs ‐ Keokuk, Wapello and Appanose ‐ had each a
large field improved, the two former on the right bank of the Des Moines, and
back from the river, in what was "Keokuk's Prairie," and the latter on the present
site of the city of Ottumwa. Among the traders connected with their agency was
J. P. Eddy, who established his post at what is now the site of Eddyville. The
Indians at this agency became idle and listless in the absence of their natural excitements
and many of them plunged into dissipation. Keokuk himself became
dissipated in the latter years of his life and it has been reported that he died of
delirium tremens after his removal with his tribe to Kansas. In May, 1843, most
of the Indians were removed up the Des Moines river, above the temporary line
of Red Rock, having ceded the renmants of their land to the United States, September
21, 1837, and October 11, 1842. By the terms of the latter treaty they
held possession of the "New Purchase" until the autumn of 1845, when most of
them were removed to their reservation in Kansas, the balance being removed
in 1846.
Before any permanent settlement was made in the territory of Iowa, white
adventurers, trappers and traders, many of whom were scattered along the Mississippi
and its tributaries as agents and employes of the American Fur Company,
intermarried with the females of the Sac and Fox Indians, producing a race of
half-breeds, whose number was never definitely ascertained. There were some
respectable and excellent people among them, children of some refinement and
education.
The first permanent settlement made by whites within the limits of Iowa was
by Julien Dubuque in 1788, when, with a small party of miners, he settled on the
site of the city that now bears his name, where he lived until his death, in 1810.
What was known as Girard settlement, in Clayton county, was made by some
parties prior to the commencement of the nineteenth century. It consisted of
three cabins in 1805. Louis Honori settled on the site of the present town of
Montrose probably in 1799, and resided there probably until 1805, when his property
passed into other hands. Indian traders had established themselves at other
points at an early date. Mr. Johnson, an agent of the American Fur Company,
had a trading post below Burlington, where he carried on traffic with the Indians
some time before the United States came into possession of Louisiana. In 1820
LeMoliese. a French trader, had a station at what is now Sandusky, six miles
above Keokuk, in Lee county. The same year a cabin was built where the city
of Keokuk now stands by Dr. Samuel C. Muir, a surgeon in the United States
army. His marriage and subsequent life were very romantic. While stationed
at a military post on the Upper Mississippi the post was visited by a beautiful
Indian maiden ‐ whose native name unfortunately has not been preserved ‐ who,
in her dreams, had seen a white brave unmoor his canoe, paddle it across the
river and come directly to her lodge. She felt assured, according to the
superstitious belief of her race, that in her dreams she had seen her future husband,
and had come to the fort to find him. Meeting Dr. Muir, she instantly recognized
him, as the hero of her dream, which, with child-like innocence and simplicity,
she related to him. Charmed with the dusky maiden's beauty, innocence and
devotion, the doctor took her to his home in honorable wedlock; but, after a while,
the sneers and jibes of his brother officers ‐ less honorable than he ‐ made him
feel ashamed of his dark-skinned wife, and when his regiment was ordered down
the river to Bellefontaine, it is said, he embraced the opportunity to rid himself
of her, never expecting to see her again, and little dreaming that she would have
the courage to follow him. But with her infant this intrepid wife and mother
started alone in her canoe, and after many days of weary labor and a lonely journey
of nine hundred miles she at last reached him. She afterwards remarked,
when speaking of this toilsome journey down the river in search of her husband:
"When I got there I was all perished away ‐ so thin." The doctor, touched by
such unexampled devotion, took her to his heart and ever after, until his death,
treated her with marked respect. She always presided at his table with grace
and dignity, but never abandoned her native style of dress. In 1819-20 he was
stationed at Fort Edwards, now Warsaw, but the senseless ridicule of some of
his brother officers, on account of his Indian wife, induced him to resign his
commission. He then built a cabin, as above stated, where Keokuk is now situated,
and made a claim to some land. This land he leased to parties in the neighborhood
and then moved to what is now Galena, where he practiced his profession
for ten years, when he returned to Keokuk. His Indian wife bore him four children:
Louise, James, Mary and Sophia. Dr. Muir died suddenly of cholera in
1832, but left his property in such condition that it was wasted in vexatious litigation,
and his brave and faithful wife, left friendless and penniless, became discouraged;
so with her two younger children she disappeared. It is said she
returned to her people on the Upper Missouri.
After the "Black Hawk Purchase" immigration to Iowa was rapid and
steady, and provisions for civil government became a necessity. Accordingly, in
1834, all the territory comprising the present states of Iowa, Wisconsin and
Minnesota was made subject to the jurisdiction of Michigan territory. Up to this
time there had been no county or other organization in what is now the state of
Iowa, although one or two justices of the peace had been appointed and a post-
office was established at Dubuque in 1833. In September of 1834, therefore, the
territorial legislature of Michigan created two counties on the west side of the
Mississippi river ‐ Dubuque and Des Moines ‐ separated by a line drawn westward
from the foot of Rock Island. These counties were partially organized.
John King was appointed chief justice of Dubuque county and Isaac Leffler of
Des Moines county. Two associate justices in each county were appointed by the
governor.
In October, 1835, General George W. Jones, in recent years a citizen of Dubuque,
was elected a delegate to congress. April 20, 1836, through the efforts
of General Jones, congress passed a bill creating the territory of Wisconsin, which
went into operation July 4 of the same year. Iowa was then included in the territory
of Wisconsin, of which General Henry Dodge was appointed governor; John
S. Horner, secretary; Charles Dunn, chief justice; David Irwin and William C.
Frazer, associate justices. September 9, 1836, a census of the new territory was
taken. Des Moines county showed a population of six thousand two hundred and
fifty-seven, and Dubuque county, four thousand two hundred and seventy-four.
The question of the organization of the territory of Iowa now began to be
agitated and the desires of the people fcmnd expression in a convention held
November 1, which memorialized congress to organize a territory west of the
Mississippi river and to settle the boundary line between Wisconsin territory and
Missouri. The territorial legislature of Wisconsin, then in session in Burlington,
joined in the petition. The act was passed dividing the territory of Wisconsin
and providing for the territorial government of Iowa. This was approved June
12, 1838, to take effect and be in force on and after July 3, 1838.
The new territory embraced "all that part of the present territory of Wisconsin
west of the Mississippi river and west of a line drawn due north from the
headwaters or sources of the Mississippi river to the territorial line." The organic
act provided for a governor, whose term of office should be three years; a secretary,
chief justice, two associate justices, an attorney-general and marshal, to be
appointed by the president. The act also provided for the election, by the white
citizens over twenty-one years of age, of a house of representatives, consisting of
twenty-six members, and a council, to consist of thirteen members. It also appropriated
five thousand dollars for a public library and twenty thousand dollars for
the erection of public buildings. In accordance with this act President Van
Buren appointed ex-Governor Robert Lucas, of Ohio, to be the first governor of
the new territory; William B. Conway, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, secretary;
Charles Mason, of Burlington, chief justice; Thomas S. Wilson, of Dubuque,
and Joseph Williams, of Pennsylvania, associate justices; Mr. Van Allen, of New
York, attorney; Francis Gehon, of Dubuque, marshal; Augustus C. Dodge, register
f the land office at Burlington; and Thomas C. Knight, receiver of the land
office at Dubuque.
On the l0th of September, 1838, an election was held for members of the
legislature, and on the 12th of the following November the first session of that
body was held at Burlington. Both branches of this general assembly had a large
democratic majority, but notwithstanding that fact General Jesse B. Brown, a
whig, of Lee county, Des Moines and Dubuque counties having been previously
divided into other counties, was elected president of the council, and Hon. William
H. Wallace, of Henry county, also a whig, speaker of the house. The first session
of the Iowa territorial legislature was a stormy and exciting one. By the organic,
law the governor was clothed with almost unlimited veto power. Governor Lucas
was disposed to make free use of this prerogative, and the independent Hawkeyes
could not quietly submit to arbitrary and absolute rule. The result was an unpleasant
controversy between the executive and legislative departments. Congress, however,
by act approved March 3, 1839, amended the organic law by
restricting the veto power of the governor to the two-thirds rule, and took from
him the power to appoint sheriffs and magistrates. Among the first important
matters demanding attention was the location of the seat of government and provision
for the erection of public buildings, for which congress had appropriated
twenty thousand dollars. Governor Lucas, in his message, had recommended
the appointment of commissioners with a view to selecting a central location. The
extent of the future state of Iowaa was not known or thought of. Only a strip
of land fifty miles wide bordering on the Mississippi river was alienated by the
Indians to the general government, and a central location meant some central
point within the confines of what was known as the "Black Hawk Purchase."
The friends of a central location favored the governor's suggestion. The
southern members were divided between Burlington and Mount Pleasant, but
finally united on the latter as the proper location for the seat of government. The
central and southern parties were very nearly equal and, in consequence, much
excitement prevailed. The central party at last was triumphant and on January
21, 1839, an act was passed appointing commissioners to select a site for a permanent
seat of government w'ithin the limits of Johnson county. All things considered,
the location of the capital in Johnson county was a wise act. Johnson
county, was, from north to south, in the geographical center of the purchase, and
as near the east and west geographical center of the future state of Iowa as could
then be made. The site having been determined, six hundred and forty acres were
laid out by the commissioners into a town and called Iowa City. On a tract of
ten acres the capitol was built, the cornerstone of which was laid with appropriate
ceremonies July 4, 1840. Monday, December 6, 1841, the fourth legislature of
Iowa met at the new capital, Iowa City, but the capitol building not being ready
for occupancy a temporary frame house erected for the purpose was used.
In 1841 John Chambers succeeded Robert Lucas as governor, and in 1845
he gave place to James Clarke. The territorial legislature held its eighth and
last session at Iowa City in 1845. James Clarke was the same year appointed the
successor of Governor Chambers and was the third and last territorial governor.
The territory of Iowa was growing rapidly in its population and soon began
to look for greater things. Her ambition was to take on the dignity and import-
ance of statehood. To the furtherance of this laudable ambition the territorial
legislature passed an act, which was approved February 12, 1844, providing for
the submission to the people the question of the formation of a state constitution
and providing for the election of delegates to a convention to be convened for
that purpose. The people voted on this at their township elections the following
April. The measure was carried by a large majority and the members elected
assembled in convention at Iowa City, October 7, 1844. On the 1st day of November
following the convention completed its work and adopted the first state
constitution. By reason of the boundary lines of the proposed state being
unsatisfactorily prescribed by congress the constitution was rejected at an election
held August 4, 1845, by a vote of seven thousand two hundred and fifty-six to
seven thousand two hundred and thirty-five. May 4, 1846, a second convention
met at Iowa City, and on the i8th of the same month another constitution prescribing
the boundaries as they are now was adopted. This was accepted by the
people August 3 by a vote of nine thousand four hundred and ninety-two to nine
thousand and thirty-six. The new constitution was approved by congress and
Iowa was admitted as a sovereign state in the Union, December 28, 1846, and the
people of the territory, anticipating favorable action by congress, held an election
for state officers October 26. 1846, which resulted in the choice of Ansel Briggs
for governor; Elisha Cutler, Jr., secretary; James T. Fales, auditor; Morgan
Reno, treasurer; and members of both branches of the legislature.
The act of congress which admitted Iowa into the Union as a state gave
her the sixteenth section of every township of land in the state, or its equivalent,
for the support of the schools. Also seventy-two sections of land for the completion
of her public buildings; the salt springs within her limits, not exceeding
twelve in number, with sections of land adjoining each other; also in consideration
that her public lands should be exempt from taxation by the state the state
was given five per cent, of the net proceeds of the public sale of public lands
within the state.
The constitutional convention of 1846 was made up largely of democrats,
and the instrument contains some of the peculiar tenets of the party of that day.
All banks of issue were prohibited within the state. The state was prohibited
from becoming a stockholder in any corporation for pecuniary profit, and the
general assembly could only provide for private corporations by general statutes.
The constitution also limited the state's indebtedness to one hundred thousand
dollars. It required the general assembly to provide for schools throughout the
state for at least three months during the year. Six months' previous residence
of any white male citizen of the United States constituted him an elector.
At the time of the organization of the state Iowa had a population of one
hundred sixteen thousand six hundred and fifty-one, as appears by the census
of 1847. There were twenty-seven organized counties, and the settlements were
being rapidly pushed toward the Missouri river.
The western boundary of the state, as now determined, left Iowa City too
far toward the eastern and southern boundary of the state. This was conceded.
Congress had appropriated five sections of land for the erection of public buildings,
and toward the close of the first session of the general assembly a bill was
introduced providing for the relocation of the seat of government, involving to
some extent the location of the state university, which had already been discussed.
This bill gave rise to much discussion, and parliamentary maneuvering
almost purely sectional in its character. February 25, 1847, An act was passed
to locate and establish a state university, and the unfinished public buildings at
Iowa City, together with the ten acres of land on which they were situated, were
granted for the use of the university, reserving their use, however, for the general
assembly and state ofificers until other provisions were made by law.
Four sections of land and two half sections were selected in Jasper county
by the commissioners for the new capital. Here a town was platted and called
Monroe City. The commissioners placed town lots on sale at a cost exceeding
the receipts. The town of Monroe was condemned and failed of becoming the
capital. An act was passed repealing the law for the location at Monroe, and
those who had bought lots there were refunded their money.
By reason of jealousies and bickerings the first general assembly failed to
elect United States senators, but the second did better and sent to the upper house
of congress Augustus Caesar Dodge and George Jones. The first representatives
were S. Clinton Hastings, of Muscatine, and Shepard Leffler, of Des Moines
county.
The question of the permanent seat of government was not settled, and in
1851 bills were introduced for its removal to Fort Des Moines. The latter locality
seemed to have the support of the majority, but was finally lost in the house on
the question of ordering it to a third reading. At the next session, in 1853, a
bill was again introduced in the senate for the removal of the seat of government.
However, the effort was a more final vote and was just barely defeated.
At the next session the effort was successful, and on January 15, 1855, a bill relocating
the capital of the state of Iowa within two miles of the Raccoon fork of
the Des Moines river and for the appointment of commissioners was approved
by Governor Grimes. The site was selected in 1856 in accordance with the provisions
of this act; the land being donated to the state by citizens and property
holders of Des Moines. An association of citizens erected a temporary building
for the capitol and leased it to the state at a nominal rent.
The passage by congress of the act organizing the territories of Kansas and
Nebraska, and the provision it contained abrogating that portion of the Missouri
bill that prohibited slavery north of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes, was
the beginning of a political revolution in the northern states, and in none was it
more marked than in the state of Iowa. Iowa was the "first free child born of
the Missouri compromise." In 1856 the republican party of the state was duly
organized in full sympathy with that of other states, and at the ensuing presidential
election the electoral vote of the state was cast for John C. Fremont. Another
constitutional convention assembled at Iowa City in January, 1857. One of the
most pressing demands for this convention grew out of the prohibition of banks
under the old constitution. The practical result of this prohibition was to flood
the state with every specie of "wildcat currency." The circulating medium was
made a part of the free-bank paper of Illinois and Indiana. In addition to this
there was paper issued by Iowa brokers, who had obtained bank charters from
the territorial legislature of Nebraska, and had their pretended headquarters at
Omaha and Florence. The currency was also variegated with the bills of other
states, generally such as had the best reputation where they were least known.
This paper was all at two, and some of it from ten to fifteen per cent, discount.
Every man who was not an expert at detecting counterfeit bills and who was not
posted in the methods of banking institutions did business at his peril. The new
constitution adopted at this convention made ample provisions for house banks
under the supervision of the laws of the state, and other changes in the old
constitution were made that more nearly met the views of the people.
The permanent seat of government was fixed at Des Moines and the university at
Iowa City. The qualifications of electors remained the same as under
the old constitution, but the schedule provided for a vote of the people upon a
separate proposition to strike out the word "white" from the suflfrage clause.
Since the early organization of Iowa there had been upon the statute books a law
providing that no negro, mulatto or Indian should be a competent witness in any
suit at law or proceeding to which a white man was a party. The general assembly of
1856-7 repealed this law, and the new constitution contained a clause forbidding
such disqualification in the future. It also provided for the education of
"all youth of the state" through a system of common schools.
October 19, 1857, Governor Grimes issued a proclamation declaring the city
of Des Moines to be the capital of the state of Iowa. The removal of the archives
and offices was commenced at once and continued through the fall. It was an
undertaking of no small magnitude. There was not a mile of railroad to facilitate
the work and the season was unusually disagreeable. Rain, snow and other
accompaniments increased the difficulties, and it was not until December that the
last of the effects ‐ the safe of the state treasurer, loaded on two large "bobsleds,"
drawn by ten yoke of oxen was deposited in the new capitol. Thus Iowa Citv
ceased to be the capital of the state after four territorial legislatures, six state
legislatures and three constitutional conventions had held their regular sessions
there.
In 1870 the general assembly made an appropriation and provided for a
board of commissioners to commence work of building a new capitol. The
cornerstone was laid with appropriate ceremonies November 23, 1871. The estimated
cost of the building was two million five hundred thousand dollars, and
the structure was finished and occupied in 1884, the dedicatory exercises being
held in January of that year. Hon. John A. Kasson delivered the principal address.
The state capitol is classic in style, with a superstructure of buff limestone.
It is three hundred and sixty-three feet in length, two hundred and forty-seven feet
in width, with a central dome rising to the height of two hundred and
seventy-five feet. At the time of completion it was only surpassed by the capitol
building of the state of New York, in Albany.
In former years considerable objection was made to the prevalence of high
winds in Iowa, which is somewhat greater than in the states south and east. But
climatic changes have lessened their grievance. The air, in fact, is pure and
generally bracing; so during the winter. Thunderstorms are also more violent
in this state than in those of the east and south, but not near so much so as
toward the mountains. As elsewhere in the northwestern states, easterly winds
bring rain and snow, while westerly ones clear the sky. While the highest
temperature occurs in August, the month of July averages the hottest and January
the coldest. The mean temperature of April and October nearly corresponds
to the mean temperature of the year, as well as to the seasons of spring and fall,
while that of summer and winter is best represented by August and December.
"Indian summer" is delightful and well prolonged.
The state lies wholly within and comprises a part of a vast plain. There are
no mountains and scarcely any hilly country within its borders; for the highest
point is but one thousand two hundred feet above the lowest point; these two
points are nearly three hundred miles apart, and the whole state is traversed by
gently-flowing rivers. We thus find there is a good degree of propriety in regarding
the whole state as belonging to a great plain, the lowest point of which
within its borders, the southeastern corner of the state, is only four hundred and
forty-four feet above the level of the sea. The average height of the whole state
above the level of the sea is not far from eight hundred feet, although it is over
a thousand miles from the nearest ocean. These remarks are, of course, to be
understood as only applying to the state at large or as a whole. On examining
its surface in detail we find a great diversity of surface by the formation of valleys
out of the general level, which have been evolved by the actions of streams
during the unnumbered years of the terrace epoch. These river valleys are deep-
est in the northwestern part of the state, and consequently it is, there that the
country has the greatest diversity of surface and its physical features are most
strongly marked.
It is said that ninety-five per cent, of the surface of Iowa is capable of a
high state of cultivation. The soil is justly famous for its fertility, and there is
probably no equal area of the earth's surface that contains so little untillable land
or whose soil has so high an average of fertility.
The largest of Iowa's lakes are Spirit Lake and Okoboji, in Dickinson
county; Clear Lake, in Cerro Gordo county, and Storm Lake, in Buena Vista
county. Its rivers consist of the Mississippi and Missouri, the Chariton, Grand,
Platte, One Hundred and Two, Nodaway, Nishabotany, Boyer, Soldier, Little
Sioux, Floyd, Rock, Big Sioux, Cedar, Wapsipiunicon, Turkey and Upper Iowa.
Iowa was born a free state. Her people abhorred the "peculiar institution"
of slavery, and by her record in the war between the states proved herself truly
loyal to her institutions and the maintenance of the Union. By joint resolution
in the general assembly of the state in 1857 it was declared that the state of
Iowa was "bound to maintain the union of these states by all the means in her
power." The same year the state furnished a block of marble for the Washington
monument at the national capital and by order of the legislature there was
inscribed on its enduring surface the following : "Iowa ‐ Her affections, like the
rivers of her borders, flow to an inseparable Union." The time was now come
when these declarations of fidelity and attachment to the nation were to be put to
a practical test. There was no state in the Union more vitally interesed in the
question of national unity than Iowa. The older states, both north and south, had
representatives in her citizenship. Iowans were practically immigrants bound to
those older communities by the most sacred ties of blood and most enduring
recollections of early days. The position of Iowa as a state, geographically,
made the dismemberment of the Union a matter of serious concern. Within her
borders were two of the great navigable rivers of the country, and the Mississippi
had been for years its highway to the markets of the world. The people could
not entertain the thought that its navigation should pass to the control of a foreign
nation. But more than this was to be feared. The consequence of introducing and
recognizing in our national system the principle of secession or disintegration
of the states from the Union. "That the nation possessed no constitutional power
to coerce a seceding state," as uttered by James Buchanan in his
last annual message, was received by the people of Iowa with humiliation and
distrust. And in the presidential campaign of i860, when Abraham Lincoln
combated with all the force of his matchless logic and rhetoric this monstrous
political heresy, the issue was clearly drawn between the north and the south,
and it became manifest to many that in the event of the election of Lincoln to
the presidency war would follow between the states. The people of Iowa nursed
no hatred toward any section of the country, but were determined to hold such
opinions upon questions of public interest, and vote for such men as to them
seemed for the general good, uninfluenced by any threat of violence or civil
war. So it was that they anxiously awaited the expiring hours of the Buchanan
administration and looked to the incoming president as to an expected deliverer
that should rescue the nation from the hands of traitors and the control of those
whose resistance invited her destruction. The firing upon the flag at Fort
Sumpter aroused a burning indignation throughout the loyal states of the republic,
and nowhere more intense than in Iowa. And when the proclamation of the
president was published, April 15, 1861, calling for seventy-five thousand citizen
soldiers to "maintain the honor, the integrity and the existence of our national
union, and the perpetuity of popular government," they were more than willing
to respond to the call. Party lines gave way, and for a while, at least, party spirit
was hushed and the cause of our common country was supreme in the affections
of the people. Fortunate indeed was the state at this crisis in having a truly
representative man as executive of the state. Thoroughly honest and as equally
earnest, wholly imbued with the enthusiasm of the hour, and fully aroused to the
importance of the crisis and the magnitude of the struggle upon which the people
were entering, with an indomitable will under control of a strong common sense,
Samuel J. Kirkwood was, indeed, a worthy chief to organize and direct the
energies of the people in what was before them. Within thirty days after the
date of the president's call for troops the first Iowa regiment was mustered into
service of the United States, a second regiment was in camp ready for the service
and the general assembly of the state was convened in special session and had, by
joint resolution, solemnly pledged every resource of men and money to the national
cause. So urgent were the offers of companies that the governor conditionally
accepted enough additional companies to compose two regiments more.
These were soon accepted by the secretary of war. Near the close of May the
adjutant-general of the state reported that one hundred and seventy companies
had been tendered the governor to serve against the enemies of the Union. The
question was eagerly asked: "Which of us will be allowed to go?" It seemed as
if Iowa was monopolizing the honors of the period and would send the largest
part of the seventy-five thousand wanted from the whole north. There was much
difficulty and considerable delay experienced in fitting the first three regiments
for the field. For the first regiment a complete outfit of clothing was extemporized,
partly by the volunteer labor of loyal women in the different towns, from
material of various colors and qualities obtained within the limits of the state.
The same was done in part for the second infantry. meantime an extra session
of the general assembly had been called by the governor to convene on the 15th
of May. With but little delay that body authorized a loan of eight hundred
thousand dollars to meet the extraordinary expenses incurred and to be incurred
by the executive department in consequence of the emergency. A wealthy merchant
of the state, ex-Governor Merrill, immediately took from the governor a
contract to supply a complete outfit of clothing for three regiments organized,
agreeing to receive, should the governor so elect, his pay therefore in the state
bonds at par. This contract he executed to the letter, and a portion of the clothing
was delivered at Keokuk, the place at which the troops had rendezvoused, in
exactly one month from the day in which the contract had been entered into.
This clothing was delivered to the soldiers, but was subsequently condemned by
the government, for the reason that its color was gray, and blue had been adopted
as the color to be worn by the national troops. Other states had also clothed
their troops, sent forward under the first call of President Lincoln, with gray
uniforms, but it was soon found that the Confederate forces were also clothed in
gray, and that color was at once abandoned for the Union soldier.
At the beginning of the war the population of Iowa included about one hundred
and fifty thousand men presumably liable to render military service. The
state raised for general service thirty-nine regiments of infantry, nine regiments
of cavalry and four companies of artillery, composed of three years men,
and four regiments and one battalion of infantry composed of one hundred days'
men. The original enlistments in these various organizations, including one
thousand seven hundred and twenty-seven men raised by draft, numbered about
sixty-nine thousand. The reenlistments, including upwards of seven thousand
veterans, numbered nearly eight thousand. The enlistments in the regular army
and navy and organizations of other states will, if added, raise the total upwards
of eighty thousand. The number of men who, under special enlistments and as
militia, took part at different times in the operations of the exposed borders of
the state was probably five thousand.
Every loyal state of the Union had many women who devoted much time and
great labor toward relieving the wants of our sick and wounded soldiery, but for
Iowa can be claimed the honor of inaugurating the great charitable movement,
which was so successfully supported by the noble women of the north. Mrs.
Harlan, wife of Hon. James Harlan, United States senator, was the first woman
of the country among those moving in high circles of society who personally
visited the army and ministered to the wants of the defenders of her country. In
many of her visits to the army Mrs. Harlan was accompanied by Mrs. Joseph
T. Fales, wife of the first state auditor of Iowa. No words can describe the
good done, the lives saved and the deaths made easy by the host of noble women
of Iowa, whose names it would take a volume to print. Every county, every
town, every neighborhood had these true heroines, whose praise can never fully
be known till the final rendering of all accounts of the deeds done in the body.
The contributions throughout the state to "sanitary fairs" during the war were
enormous, amounting into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Highly successful
fairs were held in the principal cities and towns of the state, which all
added to the work and praise of the "Florence Nightingales" of Iowa, whose
heroic sacrifices have won for them the undying gratitude of the nation. It is
said to the honor and credit of Iowa, that while many of the loyal states, older
and larger in population and wealth, incurred heavy state debts for the purpose
of fulfilling their obligations to the general government of Iowa, while she was
foremost in duty, while she promptly discharged all her obligations to her sister
states and the Union, found herself at the close of the war without any material
additions to her pecuniary liabilities incurred before the war commenced. Upon
final settlement after restoration of peace her claims upon the federal government
were found to be fully equal to the amount of her bonds issued and sold
during the war to provide means for raising and equipping her troops sent into
the field and to meet the inevitable demands upon her treasury in consequence
of the war. It was in view of these facts that Iowa had done more than her duty
during the war, and that without incurring any considerable indebtedness, and
that her troops had fought most gallantly on nearly every battlefield of the war,
that the Newark (New Jersey) Advertiser and other prominent eastern journals
called Iowa the "Model State of the Republic."
School teachers were among the first immigrants to Iowa. This gives point
to the fact that the people of Iowa have ever taken a deep interest in education,
and in this direction no state in the Union has a better record. The system of
free public schools was planted by the early settlers, and it has expanded and
improved until now it is one of the most complete, comprehensive and liberal
in the country. The lead-mining regions of the state were first to be settled by
the whites, and the hardy pioneers provided the means for the education of their
children even before they had comfortable dwellings for themselves. Wherever
a little settlement was made the schoolhouse was the first thing undertaken by
the settlers in a body, and the rude, primitive structures of the early times only
disappeared when the communities increased in population and wealth and were
able to replace them with more commiodious and comfortable buildings. Perhaps
in no single instance has the magnificent progress of the state of Iowa been more
marked and rapid than in her common school system and in her schoolhouses.
Today the schoolhouses which everywhere dot the broad and fertile prairies of
Iowa are unsurpassed by those of any other state in the great Union. More
especially is this true in all her cities and villages, where liberal and lavish
appropriations have been voted by a generous people for the erection of large,
commodious and elegant buildings, furnished with all the modern improvements, and
costing from ten thousand dollars to sixty thousand dollars each. The people
of the states have expended more than twenty-five million dollars for the erection
of public school buildings, which stand as monuments of magnificence.
Dubuque saw within its limits the first school building erected in the state of
Iowa, which was built by J. L. Langworthy and a few other miners in the fall of
1833. When it was completed George Cabbage was employed as teacher during
the winter of 1833-4, and thirty-five pupils answered to his roll-call. Barrett
Whittemore taught the school term and had twenty-five pupils in attendance.
Mrs. Caroline Dexter commenced teaching in Dubuque in March, 1836. She was
the first female teacher there, and probably the first in Iowa. In 1839 Thomas
H. Benton, Jr., afterwards for ten years superintendent of public instruction,
opened an English and classic school in Dubuque. The first tax for the support
of schools at Dubuque was levied in 1840. A commodious log schoolhouse
was built at Burlington in 1834 and was one of the first buildings erected in that
settlement. A Mr. Johnson taught the first school in the winter of 1834-5. In
Scott county, in the winter of 1835-6, Simon Crazen taught a four months' term
of school in the house of J. B. Chamberlain. In Muscatine county the first term
of school was taught by George Baumgardner, in the spring of 1837. In 1839
a log schoolhouse was erected in Muscatine, which served for a long time as
schoolhouse, meeting house and public hall. The first school in Davenport was
taught in 1838. In Fairfield, Miss Clarissa Sawyer, James F. Chambers and
Mrs. Reed taught school in 1839.
Johnson county was an entire wilderness when Iowa City was located as the
capital of the territory of Iowa, May, 1839. The first sale of lots took place
August 18, 1839, and before January 1, 1840, about twenty families had settled
in the town. During the same year Jesse Berry opened a school in a small frame
building he had erected on what is now known as College street.
In Monroe county the first settlement was made in 1834 by John R. Gray
about two miles from the present site of Eddyville, and in the summer of 1844 a
log schoolhouse was built by Gray and others, and the first school was opened
by Miss Urania Adams. About a year after the first log cabin was built at Oskaloosa,
a log schoolhouse was built, in which school was opened by Samuel W.
Caldwell in 1844.
At Fort Des Moines, now the capital of the state, the first school was taught
by Lewis Whitten, clerk of the district court, in the winter of 1846-7, in one of
the rooms on "Coon Row," built for barracks.
The first school in Pottawattamie county was opened by George Green, a
Mormon, at Council Point, prior to 1849, and until about 1854 nearly all the
teachers in that vicinity were Mormons.
The first school in Decorah was taught in 1855 by Cyrus C. Carpenter, since
governor of the state. During the first twenty years of the history of Iowa the
log schoolhouse prevailed, and in 1861 there were eight hundred and ninety-three
of these primitive structures in use for school purposes in the state. Since that
time they have been gradually disappearing. In 1865 there were seven hundred
and ninety-six; in 1870, three hundred and thirty-six; in 1875, one hundred and
twenty-one, and today there is probably not a vestige of one remaining.
In 1846, the year of Iowa's admission as a state, there were twenty thousand
pupils of schools out of one hundred thousand inhabitants. About four hundred
school districts had been organized. In 1850 there were twelve hundred and in
1857 the number increased to three thousand two hundred and sixty-five. The
system of graded schools was inaugurated in 1849, and now schools in which
more than one teacher is employed are universally graded. Teachers' institutes
were organized early in the history of the state. The first official mention of
them occurs in the annual report of Hon. Thomas H. Benton, Jr., made December
2, 1850, who said: "An institution of this character was organized a few years
ago, composed of the teachers of the mineral regions of Illinois, Wisconsin and
Iowa. An association of teachers has also been formed in the county of Henry,
and an effort was made in October last to organize a regular institution in the
county of Jones."
Funds for the support of public schools are derived in various ways. The
sixteenth section of every congressional township was set apart by the general
government for school purposes, being one-thirty-sixth part of all the lands in
the state. The minimum price of all these lands was fixed at one dollar and
twenty-five cents per acre. Congress also made an additional donation to the
state of five hundred thousand acres and an appropriation of five per cent, on all
the sales of public lands to the school funds. The state gives to this fund the
proceeds of the sales of all lands which escheat to it, the proceeds of all fines
for the violation of liquor and criminal laws. The money derived from these
sources constitute the permanent school fund of the state, which cannot be diverted
to any other purpose. The penalties collected by the courts in fines for
forfeitures go to the school fund in the counties according to their request and
the counties loan the money to the individuals for long terms at eight per cent,
interest on security of lands valued at three times the value of the loan, exclusive
of all buildings and improvements thereon. The interest on these loans is paid
into the state treasury and becomes available school funds of the state. The
counties are responsible to the state for all money so loaned, and the state is likewise
responsible to the school fund for all money transferred to the counties.
The interest on these loans is appropriated by the state auditor semi-annually to
the several counties of the state in proportion to the number of persons between
the ages of five and twenty-one years of age. The counties also levy a tax for
school purposes, which is apportioned to the several district townships in the
same way. A district tax is also levied for the same purpose. The money arising
from these several sources constitutes the support of the public schools, and is
sufficient to enable every sub-district in the state to afford from six to nine
months' school every year. The burden of district taxation is thus lightened and
the efficiency of the schools increased. The taxes levied for the support of the
schools are self-imposed. Under the admirable school laws of the state, no taxes
can be legally assessed or collected for the erection of schoolhouses until they
have been ordered by the election of a school district at a school meeting legally
called. The teachers' and contingent funds are determined by the board of
directors under certain legal instructions. These boards are elected annually.
The only exception to this method of levying taxes for school purposes is the
county tax, which is determined by the county board of supervisors. In each
county a teachers' institute is held annually under the direction of the county
superintendent, the state distributing annually a sum of money to each of these
institutes.
By act of congress, approved July 20, 1840, the secretary of the treasury
was authorized to "set apart and reserve from sale, out of any public lands within
the territory of Iowa not otherwise claimed or appropriated, a quantity of land
not exceeding two entire townships for the use and support of a university within
said territory when it becomes a state." The first general assembly, therefore, by
act approved February 25, 1847, established the "State University of Iowa" at
Iowa City, then the capital of the state. The public buildings and other property
at Iowa City were appropriated to the university, but the legislative sessions and
state offices were to be held in them until a permanent location for a capital was
made. The control and management of the university were committed to a board
of fifteen trustees, and five were to be chosen every two years. The superintendent
of public instruction was made president of this board. The organic act
provided that the university should never be under the control of any religious
organization whatever, and that as soon as the revenue from the grant and donations
should amount to two thousand dollars a year the university should commence
and continue the instruction free of charge of fifty students annually. Of
course, the organization of the university was impracticable so long as the seat
of government was retained at Iowa City.
In January, 1849, two branches of the university and three normal schools
were established. The branches were located at Fairfield and Dubuque and were
placed upon an equal footing, in respect to funds and all other matters, with the
university of Iowa at Iowa City. At Fairfield the board of directors organized
and erected a building at a cost of two thousand five hundred dollars. This was
nearly destroyed by a hurricane the following year, but was rebuilt more substantially
by the citizens of Fairfield. This branch never received any aid from
the state and, January 24, 1853, at the request of the board, the general assembly
terminated its relations to the state. The branch at Dubuque had only a nominal
existence. The normal schools were located at Andrew, Oskaloosa and Mount
Pleasant. Each was to be governed by a board of seven trustees, to be appointed
by the trustees of the university. Each was to receive five hundred dollars anually
from the income of the university fund, upon condition that they should
educate eight common school teachers free of charge for tuition, and that the
citizens should contribute an equal sum for the erection of the requisite buildings.
The school at Andrew was organized November 21, 1849, with Samuel
Ray as principal. A building was commenced and over one thousand dollars
expended on it, but it was never completed. The school at Oskaloosa was started
in the courthouse, September 13, 1852, under the charge of Professor G. M.
Drake and wife. A two-story brick building was erected in 1853 costing two
thousand four hundred and seventy-three dollars. The school at Mount Pleasant
was never organized. Neither of these schools received any aid from the university
fund, but in 1857 the legislature appropriated one thousand dollars for
each of the two schools, and repealed the laws authorizing in payment to them
of money from the university fund. From that time they made no further effort
to continue in operation.
From 1847 to 1855 the board of trustees of the university was kept full
by regular elections by the legislature, and the trustees held frequent meetings,
but there was no actual organization of the university. In March, 1855, it was
partially opened for a term of sixteen weeks. July 16, 1855, Amos Dean, of
Albany, New York, was elected president but never fully entered into its duties.
The university was again opened in September, 1855, and continued in operation
until June, 1856, under Professors Johnson, Van Walkenberg and Griffin. The
faculty was then reorganized with some changes, and the university was again
opened on the third Wednesday of September, 1856. There were one hundred
and twenty-four students (eighty-three males and forty-one females) in attendance
during the years of 1856-57, and the first regular catalogue was published.
At a special meeting of the board, September 22, 1857, the honorary degree of
bachelor of arts was conferred on D. Franklin Wells. This was the first degree
conferred by the university.
By the constitution of 1857 it was provided that there be no branches of the
State university. In December of that year the old capitol building was turned
over to the trustees of the university. In 1858 ten thousand dollars were appropriated
for the erection of a students' boarding hall. The board closed the
universitv April 27, 1858, on account of insufficient funds and dismissed all the
faculty with the exception of Chancellor Dean. At the same time a resolution
was passed excluding females. This was soon after reversed by the general
assembly. The university was reopened September 19, 1860, and from this time
the real existence of the university dates. Chancellor Dean had resigned before
this and Silas Totten. D. D., LL. D., was elected president at a salary of two
thousand dollars. August 19, 1862, he resigned, and was succeeded by Oliver
M. Spencer. President Spencer was granted leave of absence for fifteen months
to visit Europe. Professor Nathan R. Leonard was elected president pro tem.
President Spencer resigning, James Black, D. D., vice-president of Washington
and Jefferson college, of Pennsylvania, was elected president. He entered upon
his duties in September, 1868.
The law department was established in June, 1868, and soon after the Iowa
Law School, at Des Moines, which had been in successful operation for three
years, was transferred to Iowa City and merged in the department. The medical
department was established in 1869, and since April 11, 1870, the government of
the university has been in the hands of a board of regents. The university has
gained a reputation as one of the leading educational institutions of the west, and
this position it is determined to maintain.
Picture of SPENCER PUBLIC LIBRARY
HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY 37
Cedar Falls, one of the chief cities of Black Hawk county, holds the State
Normal school, which is an institution for the training of teachers and is doing
most excellent work.
By act of the legislature, approved March 23, 1858, the State Agricultural
College and Farm was established at Ames, in Story county. In 1862 congress
granted two hundred and forty thousand acres of land for endowment of schools
of agriculture and the mechanical arts. In 1864 the general assembly voted
twenty thousand dollars for the erection of the college buildings. In 1866 ninety-
one thousand dollars more was appropriated for the same purpose. The building
was completed in 1868, and the institution was opened the following year. The
institution is modeled to some extent after the Michigan Agricultural college. In
this school of learning admission is free to all students of the state over sixteen
years of age. Students are required to work on the farm two and a half hours each
day. The faculty is of a very high character and the college one of the best of
its kind. The sale of spirits, wine or beer is prohibited within three miles of the
farm. The current expenses of this institution are paid by the income from the
permanent endowment. Besides the institution here mentioned there are many
others throughout the state. Amity college is located at College Springs, in Page
county, Burlington university at Burlington, Drake university at Des Moines,
Iowa college at Grinnell, etc.
The legislature established the institution for the deaf and dumb January
24, 1855, and located it at Iowa City. A great effort was made for its removal
to Des Moines, but it was finally located at Council Bluffs. In 1868 an appropriation
was made by the legislature of one hundred and twenty-five thousand
dollars for the erection of new buildings and ninety acres of land were selected
south of the city. October, 1870, the main building and one wing was completed
and occupied. In February, 1877, fire destroyed the main building and the east
wing. About one hundred and fifty students were in attendance at that time.
There is a regular appropriation for this institution of twenty-two dollars per
capita per month for nine months of the year for the payment of officers' and
teachers' salaries and for a support fund. The institution is free to all of school
age too deaf to be educated in the common schools, sound in mind, free from
immoral habits and from contagious and offensive diseases. No charge for board
or tuition. The session of the school begins the first day of October and ends the
last day of June of each year.
In 1852 Professor Samuel Bacon, himself blind, established a school for the
instruction of the blind at Keokuk. He was the first person in the state to agitate
a public institution for the blind, and in 1853 the institute was adoped (sic) by the
legislature, by statute, approved January 18, 1853, and removed to Iowa City.
During the first term twenty-three pupils were admitted. Professor Bacon was a
fine scholar, an economical manager and in every way adapted to his position.
During his administration the institution was, in a great measure, self-supporting
by the sale of articles of manufacture by the blind pupils. There was also a
charge of twenty-five dollars as an admission fee for each pupil. In 1858 the
citizens of Vinton, Benton county, donated a quarter section of land and five
thousand dollars for the establishment of the asylum at that place. May 8 of the
same year the trustees met at Vinton and made arrangements for securing the
donation, and adopted a plan for the erection of a suitable building. In 1860
the contract for the building was let for ten thousand four hundred and twenty
dollars, and in August, 1862, the goods and furniture were removed from Iowa
City to Vinton and in the fall of the same year the school was opened with twenty-
four pupils. There is a regular appropriation of twenty-two dollars per capita
per month for nine months of each year to cover support and maintenance. The
school term begins on the first Wednesday in September and usually ends about
the 1st of June. Applicants may be admitted at any time and are at liberty to
go home at any time their parents may send for them. The department of music
is supplied with a large number of pianos, one pipe organ, several cabinet organs
and a sufficient number of violins, guitars, bass viols and brass instruments,
Every student capable of receiving it is given a complete course in this department.
In the industrial department the girls are required to learn knitting,
crocheting, fancy work, hand and machine sewing; the boys, netting, broom-
making, mattress-making and cane-seating. Those of either sex who desire
may learn carpet-weaving.
The hospital for the insane was established by an act of the legislature January 24,
1855. The location for the institution was selected at Mount Pleasant,
Henry county, and five hundred thousand dollars appropriated for the buildings,
which were commenced in October of that year. One hundred patients
were admitted within three months after it was opened. The legislature of
1867-68 provided measures for an additional hospital for the insane, and an
appropriation of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars was made for the
purpose. Independence was selected by the commissioners as the most desirable
location and three hundred and twenty acres were secured one mile from the town
on the west side of the Wapsipinecon river and about a mile from its banks.
The hospital was opened May 1, 1873. The amount allowed for the support of
these institutions is twelve dollars per month for each patient. All expenses of
the hospital, except for special purposes, are paid from the sum so named, and
the amount is charged to the counties from which the patients are sent.
The Soldiers Orphans' home is located at Davenport, and was originated
by Mrs. Anne Whittenmeyer during the late rebellion of the states. The noble-
hearted woman called a convention at Muscatine, September 7, 1863, for the pur-
pose of devising means for the education and support of the orphan children of
Iowa whose fathers lost their lives in the defense of their country's honor. The
public interest in the movement was so great that all parts of the state were
largely represented, and an association was organized, called the Iowa State
Orphan Asylum. The first meeting of the trustees was held February 14, 1864,
at Des Moines, when Governor Kirkwood suggested that a home for the disabled
soldiers should be connected with the asylum, and arrangements were made
for collecting funds. At the next meeting, in Davenport, the following month, a
committee was appointed to lease a suitable building, solicit donations and procure
suitable furniture. This committee obtained a large brick building in
Lawrence, Van Buren county, and engaged Mr. Fuller, of Mount Pleasant, as
steward. The work of preparation was conducted so vigorously that July 13 following
the executive committee announced that it was ready to receive children.
Within three weeks twenty-one were admitted, and in a little more than six
months seventy were in the home. The home was sustained by voluntary contributions
until 1866, when it was taken charge of by the state. The legislature
appropriated ten dollars per month for each orphan actually supported and provided
for the establishment of three homes. The one in Cedar Falls was organized in 1865;
an old hotel building was fitted up for it, and by the following
January there were ninety-six inmates. In October, 1869, the home was removed
to a large brick building about two miles west of Cedar Falls, and was very prosperous
for several years, but in 1876 the legislature devoted this building to the
State Normal school. The same year the legislature also devoted the buildings
and grounds of the Soldiers' Orphans home at Glenwood, Mills county, to an
institution for the support of feeble-minded children. It also provided for the
removal of the soldiers' orphans' at Glenwood and Cedar Falls homes to the
one located at Davenport. There is in connection with this institution a school
building, pleasant, commodious and well lighted, and it is the policy of the board
to have the course of instruction of a high standard. A kindergarten is operated
for the very young pupils. The age limit beyond which children are kept in the
home is sixteen years. Fewer than twenty per cent, remain to the age limit.
A library of well-selected juvenile literature is a source of pleasure and profitable
entertainment to the children, as from necessity their pleasures and pastimes are
somewhat limited. It is the aim to provide the children with plenty of good,
comfortable clothing, and to teach them to take good care of the same. Their
clothing is all manufactured at the home, the large girls assisting in the work.
The table is well supplied with a good variety of plain, wholesome food and a
reasonable amount of luxuries. The home is now supported by a regular appropriation
of twelve dollars per month for each inmate, and the actual transportation
charges of the inmates to and from the institution. Each county is liable to
the state for the support of its children to the extent of six dollars per month,
except soldiers' orphans, who are cared for at the expense of the state.
An act of the general assembly, approved March 17, 1876, provided for the
establishment of an asylum for feeble-minded children at Glenwood, Mills county,
and the buildings and grounds of the .Soldiers Orphans' home were taken for that
40 HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
purpose. The asylum was placed under the management of three trustees, one of
whom should be a resident of Mills county. The institution was opened September 1, 1876.
By November, 1877, the number of pupils were eighty-seven. The
purpose of this institution is to provide special methods of training for that class
of children deficient in mind or marked with peculiarities as to deprive them of
the benefits and privileges provided for children with normal faculties. The object
is to make the child as nearly self-supporting as practicable, and to approach
as nearly as possible the movements and actions of normal people. It further
aims to provide a home for those who are not susceptible of mental culture,
relying wholly on others to supply their simple wants.
The industrial school for boys is established at Eldora. By act, approved
March 31, 1868, the general assembly established a reform school at Salem,
Henry county, and provided for a board of trustees from each congressional district.
The trustees immediately leased the property of the Iowa Manual Labor
Institute, and October 7 following the school received its first inmate. The law
at first provided for the admission of both sexes under eighteen years of age.
The trustees were directed to organize a separate school for girls. In 1872 the
school for boys was permanently located at Eldora, Hardin county, and some
time later the one for girls at Mitchellville. There is appropriated for these
schools and their support the sum of thirteen dollars monthly for each boy and
sixteen dollars monthly for each girl inmate. The object of the institution is
the reformation of juvenile delinquents. It is not a prison. It is a compulsory
educational institution. It is a school where wayward and criminal boys and
girls are brought under the influence of Christian instructors and taught by example
as well as precept the better ways of life. It is a training school, where
the moral, intellectual and industrial education of the child is carried on at one
and the same time.
The governor by an act, approved January 25, 1839, was authorized to draw
the sum of twenty thousand dollars, appropriated by an act of congress in 1838,
for public buildings in the territory of Iowa and establish a state penal institution.
The act provided for a board of directors, consisting of three persons, to
be elected by the legislature, who should superintend the building of a penitentiary
to be located within a mile of the public square in the town of Fort Madison,
Lee county, provided that the latter deeded a suitable tract of land for the
purpose, also a spring or stream of water for the use of the penitentiary. The
citizens of Fort Madison executed a deed of ten acres of land for the building.
The work was soon entered upon, and the main building and warden's house
were completed in the fall of 1841. It continued to meet with additions and improvements
until the arrangements were all completed according to the designs
of the directors. The labor of the convicts is let out to contractors, who pay the
state a stipulated sum for services rendered, the state furnishing shops and
necessary supervision in preserving order.
The first steps toward the erection of a penitentiary at Anamosa, Jones
county, were taken in 1872, and by act of the general assembly, approved April
23, 1884, three commissioners were selected to construct and control the prison
buildings. They met on the 4th of June following and chose a site donated by
the citizens of Anamosa. Work on the building was commenced September 28,
1873. In 1873 a number of prisoners were transferred from the Fort Madison
prison to Anamosa. The labor of the convicts at the penitentiary was employed
in the erection and completion of the buildings. This institution has a well-appointed
and equipped department for female prisoners; also a department for
the care of the criminal insane.
A state historical society in connection with the university was provided
for by act of the general assembly January 25, 1857. At the commencement an
appropriation of two hundred and fifty dollars was made, to be expended in collecting
and preserving a library of books, pamphlets, papers, paintings and other
materials illustrative of the history of Iowa. There was appropriated five hundred
dollars per annum to maintain this society. Since its organization the society
has published three different quarterly magazines. From 1863 to 1874 it
published the Annals of Iowa, twelve volumes, now called the first series. From
1855 to 1902 it published the Iowa Historical Record, eighteen volumes. From
1903 to 1907 the society has published the Iowa Journal of History and Politics,
now in its fifth volume. Numerous special publications have been issued by the
society, the most important of which are the Messages and Proclamations of the
Governors of Iowa, in seven volumes. The Executive Journal of Iowa, 1838-1843,
and the Lucas Journal of the War of 1812.
The Iowa Soldiers' home was built and occupied in 1888 at Marshalltowm.
The first year it had one hundred and forty inmates. In 1907 there were seven
hundred and ninety-four inmates, including one hundred and twelve women. The
United States government pays to the state of Iowa the sum of one hundred dollars
per year for each male inmate of the soldiers' home who served in any war
in which the uNited States was engaged, which amount is used as part of the
support fund of the institution. Persons who have property or means of support,
or who draw a pension sufficient therefor, will not be admitted to the home;
and if after admission an inmate of the home shall receive a pension or other
means sufficient for his support, or shall recover his health so as to enable him to
support himself, he will be discharged from the home. Regular appropriation
by the state is fourteen dollars per month for each member and teN dollars per
month for each employe not a member of the home.
There are at Clarinda and Cherokee, state hospitals for the insane and one
at Knoxville for the inebriate.
It is strange but true that in the great state of Iowa, with more than sixty
per cent, of her population engaged in agricultural pursuits and stock-raising,
it was not until the year 1900 that a department of the state government was
created in the interests of and for the promotion of agricultural, animal industry,
horticulture, manufactures, etc. The Iowa department of agriculture was created
by act of the twenty-eighth general assembly. In 1892 the Iowa geological survey
was established, and the law which provided therefor outlined its work to be
that of making "a complete survey of the natural resources of the state in the
natural and scientific aspects, including the determination of the characteristics
of the various formations and the investigation of the different ores, coal, clay,
building stones and other useful materials." It is intended to cooperate with the
United States geological survey in the making of topographical maps of those
parts of the state whose coal resources make such maps particularly desirable and
useful. The State Agricultural society is one of the great promoters of the welfare
of the people. The society holds an annual fair, which has occurred at Des
Moines since 1878. At its meeting subjects are discussed of the highest interest
and value, and these proceedings are published at the expense of the state.
In due time plans were matured for a program covering four days, beginning
on Tuesday, March 19, and closing on Friday, March 22, 1907. It consisted
of addresses by men of prominent reputation in constitutional and historical
lines, together with conferences on state historical subjects. On Tuesday
evening Professor Andrew C. McLaughlin, of Chicago university, delivered
an address upon "A Written Constitution in Some of Its Historical Aspects."
He dwelt in a scholarly way upon the growth of written constitutions, showing
the lines along which their historical development has progressed.
The speaker of Wednesday was Professor Eugene Wambaugh, of the Harvard Law school,
one of the leading authorities in the country upon questions of
constitutional law, and formerly a member of the faculty of the College of Law
of the University of Iowa. Professor Wambaugh, taking for his subject "The
Relation Between General History and the History of Law," outlined the history
of the long rivalry between the civil law of Rome and the common law
in their struggle for supremacy, both in the old world and the new. In closing
he referred to the constitution of Iowa as typical of the efforts of the American
people to embody in fixed form the principles of right and justice.
Thursday morning was given over to a conference on the teaching of history.
Professor Isaac A. Loos, of the State University of Iowa, presided, and
members of the faculties of a number of colleges and high schools of the state
were present and participated in the program. In the afternoon the conference
of historical societies convened, Dr. F. E. Horack, of the State Historical Society
of Iowa, presiding. Reports were read from the historical department at
Des Moines and from nearly all of the local historical societies in the state.
Methods and policies were discussed and much enthusiasm was aroused looking
toward the better preservation of the valuable materials of local history.
The history of the Mississippi valley is replete with events of romantic interest.
From the time of the early French voyagers and explorers, who paddled
down the waters of the tributaries from the north, down to the days of the sturdy
pioneers of Anglo-Saxon blood, who squatted upon the fertile soil and staked
out their claims on the prairies, there attaches an interest that is scarcely equaled
in the annals of America. On Thursday evening Dr. Reuben Gold Thwaites,
superintendent of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, delivered an address
upon "The Romance of Mississippi Valley History." He traced the lines
of exploration and immigration from the northeast and east and drew interesting
pictures of the activities in the great river valleys, when land was young and the
ways full of wonder to the pioneer adventurer.
Friday's program closed the session. On this day Governor Albert B. Cummins
attended and participated in the celebration. At the university armory, before
a large gathering, he spoke briefly on the constitution of the United States,
paying it high tribute and at the same time showing the need of amendment to
fit the present day's needs. He then introduced Judge Emil McClain, of the
supreme court of Iowa, who delivered the principal address of the day. Judge
McClain took for his subject "The Constitutional Convention and the Issue Before it."
He told of that memorable gathering at the old stone capitol in Iowa
City fifty years ago, when thirty-six men met in the supreme court room to draft
the fundamental law for the commonwealth.
The members of the convention of 1857 were from various occupations. The
representatives of the legal profession led in numbers, with fourteen members,
among whom were many men of prominence: William Penn Clarke, Edward
Johnstone and J. C. Hall were there. James F. Wilson, afterwards so prominent
in national politics, was a member, then only twenty-eight years of age. J. C.
Hall was the only delegate who had served in either of the preceding constitutional
conventions of the state, having represented Henry county in the convention
of 1844. There were twelve farmers in the convention of 1857 ‐ rugged types of
these men who settled upon the land and built into the early history of the state
its elements, of enduring strength. Among the remaining members were merchants,
bankers and various other tradesmen. They were a representative group
of men and they attacked the problems before them with characteristic pioneer
vigor.
The convention of 1857 chose for its presiding ofificer Francis Springer, an
able farmer and lawyer from Louisa county. Many were the discussions that
stirred the convention. One of the first was over the proposition to move the
convention bodily to Davenport or to Dubuque. The town of Iowa City, it seems,
had not provided satisfactory accommodations for the delegates; and for hours
the members gave vent to their displeasures and argued the question of a removal.
But inertia won and the convention finally decided to remain in Iowa City and
settled down to the discussion of more serious matters.
The constitution of 1846 had prohibited banking corporations in the state.
But there was strong agitation for a change in this respect, and so the convention
of 1857 provided for both a state bank and a system of free banks. The matter
of corporations was a prominent one before the convention. So also was the
question of the status of the negro. The issues were taken up with fairness and
argued upon their merits. The convention was republican in the proportion of
twenty-one to fifteen. The delegates had been elected on a party basis. Yet they
did not allow partisanship to control their actions as members of a constituent
assembly. On the 19th of January they had come together, and for a month and
a half remained in session. They adjourned on March 5th, and dispersed to
their homes.
That the members of the convention did their work well is evidenced by
the fact that in the fifty years that have followed only four times has the constitution
of 1857 been amended. Nor did these amendments embody changes, the
need of which the men of 1857 could have well foreseen. The first two changes
in the fundamental law were due to the changed status of the negro as a result
of the Civil war. In 1882 the prohibitory amendment was passed, but it was
soon declared null by the supreme court of Iowa, because of technicalities in its
submission to the people, and so did not become a part of the constitution. The
amendments of 1884 were concerned largely with judicial matters, and those of
1904 provided for biennial elections and increased the number of members of
the house of representatives.
With these changes the work of the convention of 1857 has come down to us.
Fifty years have passed and twice has the convention been the subject of a
celebration. In 1882, after a quarter of a century, the surviving members met in
Des Moines. Francis Springer, then an old man, was present and presided at
the meeting. Out of the original thirty-six members, only twenty responded to
roll call. Eight other members were alive but unable to attend; the remainder
had given way to the inevitable reaper. This was in 1882. In 1907 occurred
the second celebration. This time it was not a reunion of members of the
convention, for only one survivor appeared upon the scene. It was rather a commemoration
of the fiftieth birthday of the constitution of the state. Only one
member of the convention (John H. Peters, of Manchester, Iowa,) is reported
to be living.
The celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of our fundamental
law was marked by a unique feature. There were present and participating
in the program three pioneers of the state, a survivor of each of the
three constitutional conventions. These three conventions met in 1857, in 1846,
and in 1844, respectively fifty, sixty-one and sixty-three years ago. On the
opening day of the celebration, J. Scott Richman appeared upon the scene.
Sixty-one years ago he had come to Iowa City as a delegate to the convention of
1846. Eighty-eight years old, with patriarchal beard and slow step, he came as
the only living member of the convention that framed the constitution under
which Iowa entered the Union. On Thursday there came from Marion, Samuel
Durham, a tall pioneer of ninety years of age, the sole survivor of Iowa's first
constitutional convention, that of 1844. His memory ran back to the days of
Iowa's first governor, Robert Lucas, for he had reached Iowa from Indiana in
the year 1840. On the last day of the program these two old constitution-
makers of 1844 and 1846 were joined by a third, John H. Peters, who had come
from Delaware county as a member of the last constitutional convention fifty
years ago. They sat down together at the luncheon on Friday noon and
responded to toasts, with words that took the hearers back to the days when
Iowa was the last stopping place of the immigrant.
Thus the celebration was brought to an end. From every point of view
it was a success. Probably never again will the state see the reunion of
representatives of all three constitutional conventions.
Time must soon take away these lingering pioneers of two generations ago.
But the state will not soon forget their services, for they have left their monument
in the fundamental law of the commonwealth.
Something over fifty years have come and gone since the first white man
appeared, to occupy and develop the rich agricultural lands of Clay county.
These have been years of vast and remarkable changes; and those who came in
1856 can scarcely realize the wonderful growth of the population, the vastness
of the development made since that period. From a broad, unbroken prairie,
it is now covered with churches, schools, fine homes, productive farms, live
towns and a happy, prosperous people. Since that memorable date, stirring
events have occurred. The Indians have laid waste to property, and destroyed
it; a war, bloody and destructive, has passed over this fair land. There have
been vears of desolation and destruction. Had some of the vigorous minds and
ready pens of the early settlers been directed to keeping a chronological journal
of the passing events, to write a history of Clay county would have been comparatively
an easy task. In the absence of any such data, we must rely upon such
facts, figures and incidents as we may glean from those who have resided here
either since its formation, or upon the meagre official records which only give
but an imperfect account of the earlier times. Of those who came here in the
pursuit of homes during the years of 1856 and 1857 but few are left to tell the
story of their hardships, privations and dangers they encountered. The struggles,
changes and vicissitudes that these fifty years evoke, are as trying to the minds
as to the bodies of men. Physical and mental strength waste away beneath
the weight of accumulating years, and the memory of dates, names, and important
events are forgotten in the lapse of time. The footprints of time leave their
impressions and destroying agencies upon everything, and consequently it would
be unreasonable to suppose that the annals, incidents and events of more than
fifty years could be preserved intact and unbroken. In a history like this errors
will naturally occur, however careful the writers may have been. It has been
their aim and object to make as few as it was possible. To the many who aided
and assisted in gathering these facts, figures, incidents and biographies the writers
extend their warmest thanks.
INDIAN TREATIES.
The territory known as the "Black Hawk Purchase," although not the first
portion of Iowa ceded to the United States by the Sacs and Foxes, was the first
opened to actual settlement by the tide of emigration which flowed across the
Mississippi as soon as the Indian title was extinguished. The treaty which provided
for this cession was made at a council held on the west bank of the Mississippi,
where now stands the city of Davenport, on ground now occupied by the
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company, September 21, 1832. This
was just after the Black Hawk war and the defeated savages had retired from
east of the Mississippi. At the council the government was represented by General
Winfield Scott and Governor Reynolds of Illinois, Keokuk, Pashapopo and
some thirty other chiefs and warriors were there. By this treaty the Sacs and
Foxes ceded to the United States a strip of land on the eastern border of Iowa,
fifty miles wide, from the northern boundary of Missouri to the mouth of the
Upper Iowa river, containing about six million acres. The western line of the
purchase was parallel with the Mississippi. In consideration for this cession the
United States agreed to pay annually to the confederated tribes, for thirty consecutive
years, twenty thousand dollars in specie, and to pay the debts of the
Indians at Rock Island, which had been accumulating for seventeen years, and
amounted to fifty thousand dollars, due to Davenport & Farnham, Indian traders.
The government also donated to the Sac and Fox women and children, whose
husbands and fathers had fallen in the Black Hawk war, thirty-five beef cattle,
twelve bushels of salt, thirty barrels of pork, fifty barrels of flour, and six thousand
bushels of corn. FIRST LAND TITLE IN IOWA.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
CIVIL GOVERNMENT FOR TERRITORY AND STATE.
ORGANIZATION OF THE TERRITORY OF IOWA.
THE TERRITORY BECOMES THE STATE OF I0WA.
THE STATE BECOMES REPUBLICAN.
THE CAPITAL REMOVED TO DES MOINES.
CLIMATE.
TOPOGRAPHY.
LAKES AND STREAMS.
IOWA AND THE CIVIL WAR.
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
THE FIRST SCHOOL BUILDING AT DUBUQUE.
STATE UNIVERSITY.
STATE NORMAL COLLEGE.
STATE NORMAL COLLEGE.
STATE INSTITUTIONS.
SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF.
COLLEGE FOR THE BLIND.
HOSPITAL FOR THE INSAME.
SOLDIERS' ORPHANS HOME.
FEEBLE-MINDED CHILDREN.
INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.
PENAL INSTITUTIONS.
PENITENTIARY AT ANAMOSA.
STATE HISTORICAL. SOCIETY.
IOWA SOLDIERS' HOME.
OTHER STATE INSTITUTIONS.
THE CELEBRATION OF THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
CONSTITUTION OF IOWA.
BY JOHN C. PARISH.
In the year 1907 the state of Iowa closed the first half century of existence
under the constitution of 1857. In April, 1906, the general assembly, looking
forward to the suitable celebration of so important an anniversary, passed an act
appropriating seven hundred and fifty dollars, to be used by the State Historical
Society of Iowa in a commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the constitution
of 1857. It was eminently desirable that the celebration should occur at
Iowa City, for it was the place, then the capital of the state, that the constitutional
convention of 1857 was held. And it was particularly fitting that the
exercises should be placed under the auspices of the State Historical Society of
Iowa, for the same year, 1857, marks the birth of the society. While the convention
was drafting the fundamental law of the state in a room on the lower floor
of the old stone capitol, the sixth general assembly in the legislative halls upstairs
in the same building passed an act providing for the organization of a state
historical society. Thus the event of 1907 became a celebration of the fiftieth
anniversary of the State Historical society as well as a commemoration of the
semi-centennial of the constitution of 1857. EXPLANATORY.
